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Helgoland Island air disaster

9 Sept 1913 · North Sea, off Heligoland

Imperial German Navy Airship · Weather

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
14 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
6
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
Unknown
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Military

Airship

Category
Blimp · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
L 1 (military designation)
Onboard fatalities
14
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded

Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.

From the Wikipedia article

The Helgoland Island air disaster occurred on 9 September 1913 after the airship Zeppelin LZ 14 had been transferred to the Imperial German Navy on 7 October 1912. As the first airship owned by the Navy, it was given the serial number L-1. Ordered to participate in manoeuvers, it departed the mainland in bad weather. With 20 people on board, L-1 flew into a gale, and, while 18 miles from its destination, the cold rain caused its gas to contract, causing it to settle 20 mi north of Helgoland into the North Sea, breaking in two. The control car sank, drowning 13 of its occupants. Seven were rescued by motor torpedo boats.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Helgoland Island air disaster” (revision 1339293449, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: Helgoland Island air disaster
Article
Helgoland Island air disaster
Revision
1339293449 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q5704685
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "Helgoland Island air disaster" (page 3372750, revision 1339293449)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
none
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.